Motor-driven hedge trimmers are comprised of at least one cutting blade, often two cutting blades which are driven in opposite directions, wherein the cutting blades have cutting teeth arranged on at least one side of the cutting blades. The cutting blades extend along a blade axis and the cutting teeth extend along a tooth axis with the tooth axis being arranged transversely to the blade axis. In cutting mode, the blade assembly is guided in such a manner that the cut plant matter gets into the space between the cutting blades. As a result of an oscillating movement of the cutting blades, the cut plant matter is severed at the cutting edges of the cutting teeth.
In order to comply with relevant safety standards, construction types are known wherein at least a portion of the cutting teeth are configured as protective teeth. A protective tooth of this sort exhibits, relative to the blade axis, an inner cutting area which connects to an outer protective finger. The protective fingers, which are disposed at a predetermined distance from one another, prevent objects of a predetermined diameter or larger from reaching the inner cutting area. Such protective fingers can, however, also hinder objects to be cut from reaching the inner cutting region. Furthermore it can be observed that a portion of the cut plant matter reaching the cutting region is pressed out of the gutting region when the blades strike the cut matter. This leads to an incomplete severing, which lessens the cutting performance of the blade assembly.